


Until Then

by amandaterasu



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: F/M, Grief/Mourning, Not Actually Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 12:24:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20620988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amandaterasu/pseuds/amandaterasu
Summary: This is just a quick one-shot. A different version of Illidan's last message in the quest "Moments of Reflection".  I try to be vague as far as who the female character is so you can make it your own.





	Until Then

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys like it! I don't usually do one shots so leave a review and tell me what you think!

She stood on the shores of the Well of Eternity, the cool water lapping at her feet as she stared down at the crystal in her hands. She didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to let him go.

Illidan Stormrage had been her everything, though she’d never dared to say it. She had feigned sickness while her compatriots went to the Black Temple to seal him away. She had considered slipping in with them, only to fight them off at the end, to save him from the fate that awaited at Maiev’s hands - but she knew she alone could do nothing. So she sat silently by.

It hurt to think about him. Their past, so full of sorrow and missed opportunities. Their future, torn to tatters when he chose to stay with the Pantheon, to jail Sargeras for eternity. An eternity alone.

“I would have stayed there with you,” she whispered, cradling the crystal to her chest. “I would have done it gladly.” But in the confusion after they had defeated Argus, her compatriots, ever ‘helpful’, had pulled her away. She waited, on the Vindicaar, believing he would step through the shimmering golden portal at any moment, waiting for him.

But only Velen came, and he shook his head slightly, and that was all the goodbye she got. Malfurion had been so dispassionate, and she added that insult to the thousand others she had gathered, watching him with his brother through the seasons. Tyrande was cold and dismissive, and that was added to her hurts as well. The woman he _had_ loved, and it meant nothing at all.

She stumbled to a nearby bench, and set the crystal on it, rubbing her eyes. How could she -

“The Well of Eternity. I am not one for sentiment… but if anything embodies my commitment to Azeroth, it is the font of power I created so long ago.” Illidan’s voice echoed in her mind, and she looked at the crystal in horror, to see shades of Illidan, Tyrande, and Malfurion, sitting on the bench and laughing.

“But enough dwelling on the past,” his voice continued, and she backed away, tears welling up in her eyes, her feet stumbling into the waters of the Well. “The crystal I left for you to find holds not two messages, but three. The last is for you, my love.” She froze, and let out the single crack of an ugly sob. Illidan had never called her that, in all their time together.

“You have proven your commitment to Azeroth. Your dedication, your sacrifice, rivals my own. Yet here I am taking the cowards’ way out, while more will be asked of you. So much more.”

She swallowed, sliding to her knees in the cool water, wrapping her arms about herself and shaking.

“Even now, enemies gather… and the shadows grow darker. From this day forward, the defense of our world, of all I hold dear, rests with you.” She caught the scent of him on the breeze for a moment, roses and brimstone, and buried her face in her hands sobbing uncontrollably. When moments passed, and it seemed no more words would come she wobbled to her feet, reaching to take the crystal up, and go find somewhere to drink and sleep. 

Her fingers just brushed its edge, when his voice started again, and she stopped, sitting on the bench the apparitions had vacated.

“My dear, I am sorry. Whatever end I face, you know that I chose it. But I need you to know, as well, for all the things that I have done, and all the sins that I have carried, not loving you when I had the chance is my only regret.” She stared at the ground, unable to register his words.

“My love for Tyrande is an ancient thing, that died somewhere in those Barrow Dens beneath Hyjal. When she freed me, I continued on in the motions. It was all I knew, all I could do. But then I met you, and things … changed.” 

Leaning over, she pulled her cloak around herself tightly. She was simultaneously too warm and too cold, in pain and exhilarated.

“I have had my fair share of enemies, my love. If I were ever to publicly acknowledge what you were to me, what you _are_ to me, you would have a target on your back for the rest of your days, even after I am gone.” She looked over at the crystal again, and smiled to see a new apparition, the Illidan she had known and loved, horns and wings and claws and scars and tattoos and all of him, sitting beside her. “So, I consign myself to this regret. I will keep my distance, and together we will make this sacrifice. All the joy we could have had, in exchange for the salvation of Azeroth and the end of the Burning Legion.” The shade of him chuckled, and a single tear slipped down his cheek. “I sometimes think the price too high.”

He buried his face in his hands, then looked up, towards that new, shimmering speck in the night sky, that marked where the Pantheon, and he, could be found. “If there is some better world beyond death, and the Light allows me there, then I hope I will find you, and we can try again. Until then…” 

His voice trailed off a moment, and he sighed. She saw his face harden, and she wanted to touch it, but when she tried, she found only empty air and the ripples of magic. “Until then, my love, forget me. Let the rest of Azeroth have their fiction that I died still pining for my brother’s bride. If it will keep you safe, so be it. Find love with someone else. Live the life I wish I could have given you. Let this secret fade away, with me, until in some future where gods and men can stand aside, we find each other again.

“Until then, you will remain the shining star that guides me through whatever comes - for in you I found all the good that lies at the heart of Azeroth. Everything I ever strove to protect.” He stood, and continued staring up at the same distant star. “I love you.”

Then he was gone.


End file.
